Project Manager: Role and Responsibilities
In the broadest sense, project managers are responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the completion of specific projects for Yager Construction while ensuring these projects are on time, on budget, and within scope.
By overseeing complex projects from inception to completion, project managers have the potential to shape Yager Construction's trajectory, helping to reduce costs, maximize the company's efficiencies, and increase revenue.
The exact duties of a project manager will depend on the types of projects that a PM is tasked with overseeing. But across the board, a project manager share responsibilities across what's commonly referred to as the "project life cycle," which consists of five phases (or processes):
- Initiating
- Planning
- Executing
- Monitoring and Controlling
- Closing
1. Initiating
A project manager begins each new project by defining the main objectives of the project, its purpose, and its scope. They also identify key internal and external stakeholders, discuss shared expectations, and gain the required authorization necessary to move a project forward.
2. Planning
Once the charter is approved, project managers work with key stakeholders to create an integrated project plan focused on attaining the outlined goals.
The plan established during this process helps project managers oversee scope, cost, timelines, risk, quality issues, and communications. It is during this phase that project managers will outline key deliverables and milestones and identify the tasks that must be completed to complete each.
3. Executing
During this phase, team members complete the work that has been identified in the project plan in order to reach the goals of the project. The project manager's role is to assign this work and to ensure that tasks are completed as scheduled. The project manager will also typically:
- Protect the team from distractions
- Facilitate issue resolution
- Lead the team in working through project changes
4. Monitoring and Controlling
Despite being listed as the fourth phase, monitoring and controlling processes actually commence at the beginning of a project and continue throughout planning, execution, and closing. In the monitoring and controlling phase, a project manager's work includes:
- Monitoring the progress of a project
- Managing the project's budget
- Ensuring that key milestones are reached
- Comparing actual performance against planned/scheduled performance
Of course, things rarely go exactly according to plan. Therefore, a project manager must be flexible enough to work within a project's plan but readily adapt when necessary.
5. Closing
During this phase, project managers strive to ensure all activities necessary to achieve the final result are completed. During the close of a project, project managers will:
- Work with the client to get formal sign-off that the project is complete
- Release any resources (budget or personnel) who are no longer needed for the project
- Review the work of third-party vendors or partners in order to close their contacts and pay their invoices
- Archive project files for future reference and use
What Does a Project Manager Do?: A Day in the Life of a Project Manager
There are a number of general tasks that any good project manager can expect to perform on a daily basis. These include:
- Communicating with team members: Project Management is all about communication, whether through emails, calls, daily checks-ins, or team meetings. Project managers must communicate with the members of their team regularly to determine the status of various projects and potential roadblocks that will need to be resolved.
- Communicating with key stakeholders: Just as important as communicating with your team is regularly updating key stakeholders on project progress and ensuring that the project still aligns with changing company initiatives. The communication can take many forms, including weekly or monthly reports, regularly updated dashboards, or quick emails, calls, or meetings. Regardless of the medium, getting comfortable communicating with data is an essential skill.
- Issue identification and resolution: Throughout the course of any project, its common for scope, budget, resource allocation, and other miscellaneous issues to arise. It is the role of the project manager to ensure that these issues are resolved effectively in order to keep the project on track.
- Budgeting: For small-scale projects, cost estimation may be a weekly or even a monthly task. But for larger projects with may different expenses to keep in mind, project managers may spend time reviewing budgets each day to ensure the project does not exceed resource allocations. This may also include reviewing, processing, and approving invoices from outside vendors of the project includes such partnerships.
- Time management and approval: In order to ensure that the project remains on track, many project managers turn to timesheets or a project management software that allows them to see how their team is spending their time. In addition to ensuring that the project is moving along as planned, this helps project managers shift resources between projects necessary.
- Team-building: A good project manager will do more than simply manage the steps of a project. They will also manage their team in order to keep them productive and happy. A part of this should include team-building exercises designed to boost morale, particularly after challenging weeks or phases of the project. Organizing a weekly lunch is one such example.
Job Types: Permanent, Full-time
Benefits:
- Dental care
- Employee assistance program
- Extended health care
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
Schedule:
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Sidney, BC: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Education:
- Secondary School (preferred)
Experience:
- Project management: 1 year (preferred)
Language:
Work Location: In person
